Most important showing of the season so far

Toledo's men's basketball team is bad -- it's beaten down, short-handed, worn down by circumstance. There's actually a few decent pieces on the Rockets, but that team is on the verge of collapse (if it hasn't already).

That said, what happened for Western Michigan Wednesday was huge because of the emergence of LaMarcus Lowe and Demetrius Ward. Yes, it came against a team that showed almost no fight or want-to, but in this rare case, that doesn't matter so much.

Ever since my first conversations with former assistant coach Cornell Mann about Lowe and Ward, I've been waiting to see signs of the upside. Lowe had shown a bit in spurts, but Ward had been a non-factor, someone who just looked happy to be playing basketball.

Wednesday he came out of that shell. He's got all-league potential at some point in his career and he can be a threat this year. If WMU wants to do more than just win the MAC's West Division and lose in the tournament semifinals as the No. 2 seed (which is actually a pretty good accomplishment for a team that starts 3-10), it's going to need someone to do something they haven't shown to this point. Ward is a freshman. He's not going to score 14 points a game. He may go scoreless in a few more. But having him as a threat, having him aggressive on both ends of the court -- which he was Wednesday -- will, at some point again, be a significant boost for this team.

As for Lowe, he just raised the bar for himself. Now he's got to find a way to do that every night -- not statistically, but effort-wise. Andre Ricks isn't the first person involved in college basketball to call Lowe a future pro. He's got a long way to go (a few squats and calf raises included). But, in this league, if he gives that kind of energy every night, at 6-11, with those skills, he can be a major factor now.

Saturday against Northern Illinois will be interesting. This team and these freshmen are feeling pretty good about themselves after Wednesday night. NIU is nothing special -- but, unlike Toledo, the Huskies still believe their season is worth something. That alone will make it more of a fight. WMU needs to remain humble. The Broncos aren't going to beat many teams just by showing up with pregame swagger.